Your Turn: We don't need another Hero

Screen Play doesn’t tend to play many games during the traditional Christmas hiatus. I enjoy the occasional break from all things electronic.

But the boys and I did have many enjoyable Rock Band and Guitar Hero sessions over the Christmas break.

I got a microphone stand for my birthday, so now I can sing and play guitar or drums at the same time, which I particularly enjoy when strumming away with The Beatles.

Regular Screen Play contributor Jacob Martin is also a big fan of rhythm action games and how they can bring people together.

Today Jacob takes his turn to ponder about the strange allure of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and why DJ Hero has not enjoyed the same success.

We don't need another Hero

I've been thinking a lot about the state of rhythm games as a genre in the video game world.

They're a genre so inoffensive to Michael Atkinson's ears they're practically offensive for not being offensive enough like real rock and roll should be. I heard "whiskey" got censored in Band Hero's American Pie rendition. That's just plain wrong on an artistic standpoint. But I guess the biggest complaints people have towards rhythm games is that people who play real instruments say that "it's not like the real thing".

Granted, I don't get elitist about fighting games when they're unrealistic. Their aesthetic comes from cheesy martial arts movies. I treat them with the same dignity as such without expecting a real martial artist to want to beat me up because the Hadouken is an unrealistic addition to what should be a pure, physically straining artform.

Fighting games I expect to be unrealistic, why should rhythm games be any different? The whole structure of the music industry in games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero is entirely unrealistic. Unless you've been playing in your KISS tribute band since 1979, I don't expect you to rise to fame as quickly as you do in these games playing covers of other people's songs.

People always say the plastic instruments are the most unrealistic thing about rhythm games, but the structure of how your in-game band rises to fame goes unmentioned. It's based in some kind of rock-and-roll-fantasy-camp where somehow the music industry never experienced Napster and every rock star is making it big in royalties. Come on, fighting games don't even try to represent reality. It builds your suspension of disbelief when you're fighting bears and pandas and kangaroos in Tekken 6.

Don't get me wrong, I love rhythm games in moderation. A good four-hour tour across digitised Stockholm in Rock Band is almost as exhausting as doing the same thing in real life.
The sense of belonging in a band of strangely sober misfits trying out the full instrument pack of a rhythm game can't be matched by other genres of video games like first person shooters and puzzle games. Even Beowulf can't explain why fighting games bring people together when it's all about pushing the other player's buttons (both metaphorically and literally). Rhythm games at least try and unite people and encourage people to do so in order to succeed in the game. Air Guitar Nation, that fine documentary about the World Air Guitar Championships, comes to mind in that you can't exactly fight over creative control when you're trying to complete Missisippi Queen on expert. Spinal Tap also comes to mind because really the majority of times when you're starting out in Guitar Hero or Rock Band a lot of things are going to go wrong - the proverbial Stonehenge pitfalls of climbing to the top of rock ‘n roll glory.

The pop culture detritus of our lives get recycled and resurrected in these games. Like the time I was visiting Canberra and there was this country music artist called Shazzalee being advertised on TV with a new tour. At the time I thought it was a bit silly, as you do when you're fourteen years old and not really getting what your rellies see in Slim Dusty. Anyway, that's not the surreal part. The surreal part was a day later there was an announcement on the Canberra radio station that Shazzalee's tour had been cancelled due to lack of interest. That burnt into my soul, it did. Shazzalee became a reference point where my mother would always bring it up when a band failed to make it on the road. Thus we made a Rock Band avatar of Shazzalee out of half-remembered slices from that time of our lives. My first Rock Band rock band was called Shazzalee and the Cancelations. Not the most permanent memorial to this ill-fated country music wanderer, but it revived the vibe enough in our memories to try and live out in a video game the fame and fortune the real Shazzalee in the true blue music industry.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero band names and members are a mausoleum of music culture. That's where it all goes once the meatspace musos are dead and gone. Ashes to ashes, pixels to pixels.

Now here comes the strange part. What counts as a real musician? DJ Hero was a reasonably innovative concept, but sold poorly. There is a perception that DJs aren't real musicians, but I don't think that's true. They simply, in my opinion, make new music out of music and sounds and samples that already exist. It's certainly something to think about. DJ Shadow made his name with his album Endtroducing , and since has been revered as an innovator in DJ culture. Yet recently he's been regarded as a bit backwards in how he perceives the music industry. Kind of like what I talked about above, the new way for musicians to make royalties is to be featured in video games. DJ Shadow is right that artists deserve to be paid for their efforts, but somebody like me who prefers CDs over vinyl is a bit alienated by his retro-philosophy of the music industry, a world of vinyl records and reviving the past. DJ culture is the flip-side of the cover band - DJs technically cover other people's songs by arranging them with mixed beats and dubs. But DJ Hero in its financial failure made gamers question the idea of mindless rhythm game consumption, and cry out like Tina Turner in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome: "We don't need another HERO!"

The core element of DJ Hero's perceived failure and Guitar Hero and Rock Band's success seems to be that while many young people want to be rock stars, few of my generational huddle prefer the path of the DJ. The DJ road is a lot more expensive than just buying a real instrument and practicing with it. Vinyl records must be purchased, DJ mixing decks acquired. Whereas I know a place that can sell you a sweet ukelele for a fraction of that cost, just a little more than Guitar Hero 5 itself. You could choose to buy a second hand copy of Donkey Konga for a premium or just get some fifty dollar bongos from the Oxfam shop knowing you'll at least be buying something not made at a sweatshop unlike what Donkey Konga can claim about itself.

Speaking of Donkey Konga, I really liked that game back when my brother still played his Gamecube. The quaint DK Bongo controller brings back memories of what was essentially one of the "original gangsters" (as my mate Josh says of the game) belonging to the rhythm game genre. Rhythm games are only as innovative as the instruments which can be adapted to the console video game market. I imagine other types of strange rhythm games that don't involve music might emerge in the future based on a number of seemingly mundane and unskilled tasks. We've already got one, it's called Cooking Mama. It’s essentially Nigella Lawson crossed with Donkey Konga.

Rhythm games deserve to exist, not merely because they have entertainment value. They provide people exposure to bands and music culture memes some people wouldn't normally find out about. The Beatles: Rock Band I haven't played yet, but Charlie Brooker, despite being a cynical old journalist, actually liked it. Maybe it really is how young people will hear their first tones of the Beatles' catalogue of hits.

I like rhythm games, because they're one of the most social games you can get. It’s probably also because if you can afford all those plastic guitars, you're the sort of bloke your gamer mates want to keep hold of.

- Jacob Martin

Screen Play readers can submit articles or ideas for consideration in Your Turn and Your Review using the email address screenplayblog@gmail.com. The best blog post published on Screen Play between December 1, 2009 and February 26, 2010 as judged by Jason Hill will win a PlayStation 3 console from Sony Computer Entertainment worth $499. The next prize winner will be announced on February 26. Only Australian residents are eligible and the judge's decision is final.

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Whne you first start playing DJ Hero it doesn't feel exactly second nature (but really, who has played 'air DJ before'??) It's all new. But once you get it...

Luckily enough they are making a DJ Hero 2, despite the flop status (I'm sure profits from GH can cover it), so I'll be partaking in the festivities. I just hope that they release the game and deck separately (because I don't want another deck)

Pylades

February 03, 2010

09:51 AM

It makes me sad that DJ Hero hasn't done well. Its actually a pretty cool game, having tried it out with friends and at a JB demo.

About the only things I can suggest for DJ Hero 2 are focus more on straight dance and hip-hop tracks and less on the twin mixes, and make the crossfader easier to use, a switch rather than a slider.

Thom

February 03, 2010

09:56 AM

You make some good points about how silly it is when people compare guitar hero to real playing. I guess the issue I have is the "instruments." Ignoring the fact that you have to pay almost as much for a fake guitar as a cheap beginners acoustic, I can't think of a fighting game where I have to sit around looking kinda lame while I play it...

Tim S

February 03, 2010

10:15 AM

Nicely done Jacob.

I actually find DJ Hero a little more tactile than the various rock intstrument games for a number of reasons, but on the whole I love the genre. As a musician there are some minor issues I have mainly with the shape of the neck of the guitars (square back) and the angle of the drum-pads, but they're such tiny quibbles. As a game and as far as enjoyment goes, the whole concept is brilliant.

People perhaps get a bit confused about what the games are about; they're not supposed to be music instrument simulators, they're supposed to provide a fun way to role-play legendary rockers and pop-stars while also playing a deceptively simple but fun and rewarding game mechanic.

I heartily encourage anyone who thinks they're too cool for Guitar Hero, Rock Band and DJ Hero to give them a decent try before writing them off.

Mongey

February 03, 2010

11:17 AM

I'm not into rythm games at all. but to each their own. I'm a musican and i just feel if I am being musical I should be in my spare room working on music .
For me I would be more open to it if it was creative to a degree. the whole push this button now playstyle doesnt appeal to me . why not let the player create as well as play along . when it comes to the solo why not have the buttons diatonic notes and let the player create their own solo ?

I havent tried DJ hero but I'm guessing allot of it is related to jumping around playing air guitar . Its probably perceived as not as fun to dj

death to nerds

February 03, 2010

11:57 AM

Can't die soon enough.

The lack of any sort of creativity in DJ Hero completely put me off.

Plus I already have Wii Music.

Great article though!

Reality Check

February 03, 2010

02:08 PM

Well written article, you have a natural writing style that is very easy to read.

This genre desperately needs innovation. As it stands they are horribly self-similar and I don't think it's a stretch to say that all you really need in each licence is one game with DLC song packs. Hell if you really wanted to get picky you could make DLC Skins and Animation Packs (hehe which is all the publisher is doing anyway) and you'd have the full GH1,2,3,4,5...n experience.

I bought GH1 back in the day, it was fun for a couple weeks. Haven't tried any other titles in the genre, because they've all felt like rebadged GH1 to me.

Jake

February 03, 2010

07:20 PM

Awesome article!

Now write one called "We don't need another HALO"

:P

Jacob Martin

February 04, 2010

01:07 AM

To those of you who say "buy DJ Hero" I DID buy DJ Hero and I think it's a good game, but it's nowhere near as inviting for multiplayer as Rock Band or Guitar Hero.

I enjoy DJ Hero because you can play as Grandmaster Flash. The level of insight I gave into the DJ Hero game should have reflected that I actually played it. If "you haven't played it" was a concern, I haven't played Band Hero but my friends have and they reckon it's horrible. But DJ Hero was an original concept, it just sold poorly. And I tend to like games that tend to sell poorly.

Comments Terms & Conditions

When posting comments on our blogs, you agree to be bound by our terms and conditions.
Comments that are offensive, defamatory, unsuitable or that breach any aspects of the terms and conditions will be deleted.

Video games are the new pop. Australians now spend more money on shooters and sims than hip hop and punk rock. Debate the latest news and trends in interactive entertainment with award-winning games writer Jason Hill.